Behind what appears to be child’s play is a cast of highly dedicated, motivated and extremely talented artists bringing the 11th season of the Hi-5 phenomenon to audiences worldwide in 2010. As Hi-5 embarked on their latest international Surprise Tour, 3008 spoke to Melbourne bred cast member Stevie Nicholson, about the rigorous and demanding schedule of life in the preschool fast lane.

How did becoming a member of Hi-5 eventuate and when did you
join the cast?
I was always interested in performing. I studied Performing Arts at Deakin University but before joining Hi-5 there were a few detours including working as the Assistant Editor for Australian Tennis Magazine, studying classical Shakespeare and Theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London as well as completing a Degree in Musical Theatre at NIDA in Sydney.
I then toured with Brainstorm Productions, a children’s singing and dancing group performing regularly at primary schools which gave me the best introduction and training leading up to my Hi-5 audition. I was incredibly fortunate to be selected and I joined the cast in 2007. I cannot imagine having a more fulfilling, humbling, physically demanding but more awesome job
in the world.

What does it mean to be a member of Hi-5, what is involved?
There is no room for phonies in children’s entertainment, they are a tough audience and you have to be on your game. There is a great responsibility to provide every audience we perform to with a really fantastic show, for many kids it’s their first introduction to theatre and you want that to be special and memorable.

To be a member of Hi-5 you have to love what you do and mean it from the heart, you also have to be really physically fit, healthy and full of energy and passion about what you are doing. We film the TV series continuously over a 10 week period; learning lines and choreography within 3 days of rehearsal time and then filming for the remaining 2 days of each week. We also do 4-5 tours a year most of which are a month long; you can’t keep up this demanding a schedule if you don’t love being part of Hi-5.

Hi-5 seems to speak a universal language to children of all cultures
and backgrounds, what do you think is at the core of your appeal?
Over a million children across 220 countries watch Hi-5 each week, I think the key to our appeal is fun. Every child no matter how poor or privileged just wants to have fun and Hi-5 is about having fun and being a bit silly, it’s about the music, the colours and the playfulness. Every child deserves
to have fun!

Does the new cast of Hi-5 live in the shadow of the original cast at all?
Not really, luckily our ‘audience’ tends to grow with the cast members of their time. We are good friends with the former cast and they have passed on the baton to pursue different things, they set an amazing standard for us to withhold.

Being based in Sydney do you miss Melbourne?
I miss everything about Melbourne from my family and friends to just everything about the place. To me Melbourne is where it is at; the energy of the place is amazing. I love hanging out at Southbank, Chapel Street and getting Fish and Chips at Docklands, every time I visit the area it gets bigger and better.

There’s no doubt Docklands in the future will be the heart of Melbourne.